Isaiah Continued from Is.51:15
Is.59:1-16[9124] The Folly of Man. Katsumasa Hirota: As human beings are, we
have long been having wars, and triffles, and competitions, and murders, such
evil incidents in our histories. And above these, many cults having been
spreading out over the world, taking advantage of peoples' acceptance and
abusing them in ways that make many distrust true faith in God.
In every society, there are serious problems which are almost impossible to
solve. Look at Isaiah 59:1-16. Does this surprise you? In this passage we can
see the reflection of our world today. What happens if we come into the new year
of 2000 with such evils?
Is.65:17[9084] NB. Katsumasa Hirota: [There have been many prophecies given
concerning the end of days. Jesus gave these prophecies in] Mt.24:4-14, 29-35.
We also know that the apostle, John, was given the prophecy of the fulfillment
of the New Jerusalem, in Re.21:1-2. But, the surprising thing is that this
prophecy was also given to Peter, in II Peter 3:13, and to Isaiah, who lived 170
years before Jesus; we have this prophecy [concerning God's creation of new
heavens and a new earth. In what sense, will the heavens and earth be new we do
not know, but we do know that it will be as it was in the beginning of our
creation; a paradise without sin, a thing I believe all people would choose if
they knew that they had the power to choose it. Yet, this utopia will not be a
thing created by Man at all, but by the very God that many for selfish reasons
deny exists.]
Jeremiah
Je.33:3[8052] - Asking God. Katsumasa Hirota: - says "Call on me, and I will
answer and tell you the great and unsearchable things that you don't know." When
you come to God, He will surely provide you with greater answers than you can
imagine. His answers are always beyond our understanding, imagination, and
expectations.
Ezekiel NB. Katsumasa Hirota: In Ezekiel, we find God's prophet calling on the
Israelites to stand firm again. [8103]
Eze.37:1-10[8094,9054] God's breath. Katsumasa Hirota: The prophet Ezekiel once
had a vision of a valley full of dead bones. In that scene, there was obviously
no hope for those bones to be alive again.
In this part, God also blew His breath into the dead bones. He promised
Ezekiel that those dead people would be brought back to life by God's breath.
This part always reminds me of the Japanese people today. They are spiritually
dead. But, this part also encourages me very much. With only God's breath, they
will be brought to life.
Jesus Himself blew on His weak disciples after He arose, saying "Receive
the Spirit." Immediately, after that happening at Pentecost, Peter and John
started to speak out. Read Acts 4:13. They had been so changed that people
mistook them to be drunken. They might have indeed looked so, for they were so
different at that moment from other normal people. Peter's strong preaching led
3,000 people to baptism that day -- this is how the first church was born!
For a long time, we Japanese have been praying for revival. As you know,
it's been pretty long since a revival was last experienced by Japan. A Korean
pastor once said that the reason Japan has not received a revival is that
Japanese people have a weak recognition of "crisis". We are so dull in feeling
a crisis. We never seem to understand that there's no way out on our own!
Eze.40:1-2[8103] NB. Katsumasa Hirota: [Here], we can read that Ezekiel was
in Babylon, a gentile country, but we also find that he was often given visions
from God.
Eze.47:1-12[8103] Living Water.. Katsumasa Hirota: In today's reading, we
find that Ezekiel had a vision about a river. The river that he saw in his
vision was the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit of
God is something that we need in life. We need it in our lives. In truth, we
all need it in our lives. All people everywhere need it. It is wonderful and
blessed. However, it appears to be something that is difficult to receive.
Anyway, we read that as Ezekiel experienced his vision, the river was getting
bigger and bigger, and as he watched it grew into a huge river.
Now "water" is a symbol of cleansing. We wash things in water in order to
clean away the dirt that has somehow collected on or in them. And, we find that
water is effective in washing away the dirt. But "water" is also symbolic of
another thing, that is power. Water has power! Last night, we all experienced
a typhoon in Oita and found how much power water has. Just remember the story of
Noah's ark; the flood had such a power that it washed out everything on the
earth.
Jesus once said, "Come to me, those who are thirsty, and drink from me."
(Jn.7:37,38). The water that we can drink from Jesus, the water that he called
"living water", is not the water that we can get from rivers, or rainfall, or
wells, but it is actually the Spirit of God. And we can actually receive it from
Jesus! Jesus can give this water to us.
In our reading today, Ezekiel measured the water 500 m each. First, it was
only up to his ankles, but then it was up to his knees. Soon, it was deep enough
to swim in! True, Oita River begins as a very small stream somewhere near
Yufuin. But, the part of Oita River that runs past us is big enough to put a
boat in. Thinking about these things, it can be compared to our own steps in the
Christian life; first, when we are newly born, our faith is little and small,
but as we mature as followers of Christ, our faith becomes big, and firm.
The river described here, in Eze.47:9, is exactly the same as the one
described in the Garden of Eden. A certain pastor said this is the promise of
God, that the Garden of Eden will come back to us. Read Re.22:1-3, this is what
we call the new world of the future. This is the prophecy that we have for our
future. The life we have with the Spirit of God can give us this blessing, and
it can give salvation to others which we very much need for ourselves.
Look back in our passage to Eze.47:8. This is a reference to the Dead Sea.
As you all know, no life can live in the Dead Sea. But the promise of God is
that in such a sea we will be able to find living things. How wonderful!
Actually, some professor has already found some living things in the Dead Sea.
We are called to give out God's love and salvation to others. With God's Holy
Spirit, we can do this!
Ezekiel measured the waters, first at his ankles.. This "at his ankle" is
talking about our daily lives. The fulfillment of God's Spirit in us begins in
our daily lives first. A lady who had a conflict with her mother-in-law finally
won a triumph with God's Holy Spirit in her life. Her mother-in-law found
something in her life that challenged her, and gave her hope. She began to come
to church, and eventually she accepted Christ into her own life. This was the
victory the lady won with God's Spirit alive in her!
Next, Ezekiel measured the water at his knee, and this is a reference to
holy prayer. We need to pray! Prayer is an important part of our life with
God's Spirit.
Then, Ezekiel measured the water and it was up to his waist! This is the
power and strength needed for evangelism (In lifting up Christ, we need to have
strong waists). When the Israelites were carrying God's holy box (the Ark of the
Covenant), they arrived at the Jordan River and stopped. The river was too wide.
The river was too deep. At first, they stopped and hesitated, but then with
faith, they stepped in. Well, what happened? The water drew back! These
faithful servants crossed the river on dry land! With faith, we need to step in
also!
And then, the water was deep enough to swim in. Being full of the Holy
Spirit, we can give out the fruits of the Spirit (see v.12). We've been praying
for a great revival in Japan for long enough, and I do believe it is coming
near. But, unless we ourselves start to swim in this river of God's Holy Spirit,
we won't see God's work through us. We need to step out into the river of this
world. We have been called to do this work.
The water originated from the Temple. Moses hit a rock and the Israelites
received water from it. Jesus is that rock! From Jesus we get that water.
Jesus was hit, and gave us the water of life. Those who are thirsty.. come to
Jesus.
An American doctor, who had once visited Japan, knew that his own birthday
was on the same date, December 7th, that war began between the United States of
America and Japan. He quit celebrating his birthday, and now he fasts on that
day instead! He is praying for Japan's salvation! And I do think that he is a
person who is filled with God's Spirit, and living with Him. This is an example
of God's work in us, and we can not do His work effectively alone. We need God's
Spirit in our lives to succeed in what God is calling us to do.
Daniel
Da.2:14-30[7102] Going to God. Katsumasa Hirota: The theme of today's reading
is probably about dreams.
Not every dream has a significant meaning, but sometimes one does. The
other day, when I was in a different location giving a sermon, I was so tired.
That night, I had a dream in which I was swimming in a river. Suddenly, I was
drowning, and on waking up, I felt sick and dizzy -- well, I have a disease
called Menuel (I don't know the English word for it) which is caused by fatigue.
This disease is very common among pastors in Japan. True. One of my closest
friends, a pastor in Fukuoka, had this one. He has overcome this and now looks
much younger and is more energetic than I, though he is older. I think I need
to go through this hardship both for my own and for God's sake. And, I need your
prayers too, in this! Please pray for me.
[In] today's part, [we read about a dream that had a significant meaning:
the king was puzzled by a dream he had. It drove him crazy that he had no one to
interprete this dream for him. But, four Jewish boys, including Daniel were used
to reveal the meaning of his dream. The revelation came as a result of God's
might and help as the four Jewish boys asked Him for support -- well, I had been
wondering what kind of thing God is trying to tell us in this scripture.. and
this is what was shown to me: Daniel and his three friends were given knowledge
of what would happen in the future, but not directly! No. Instead, through
someone else's dream, they learned the future. And from this, I can say that
quite often we can get important things through indirect means! For example, the
tapes of pastors who are not in your church, or the witness of other people, can
definitely work through you to bring blessings and revelations from God!
The second thing that was revealed to me is found in verse 16: Daniel asked
for spare time to pray. He didn't ask anyone, not experts in law, or friends,
nor anyone else.. He asked God directly! Look at these verses:
Jn.4:39-42. First, they believed through the lady who testified about
Jesus, but later they believed because they had heard Jesus themselves [they had
gone to God].
1 Co.2:9-14. God, the Holy Spirit, Himself, will reveal everything you need
to have, and help you to believe in God.
Jn.14:26; Jn.16:13. The one who believes in Jesus receives His Holy Spirit
inside of himself.
When I was a bible college student, I was sent to a middle-aged couple. The
wife was a Christian, but her husband was not. One time, I was about to speak to
him about the Gospel, but I felt very nervous because he was a professor at Kobe
University. But, he said to me, "I may be talented in my own specialities, but
you know much more about God than I do." I could be a good witness to him with
the presence of God's Holy Spirit.
For the Holy Spirit to work strongly through you, you need to kneel down
before God and keep fellowship with His Spirit. This is the definite basis of a
Christian life! Daniel asked the king for some time to kneel down before God.
There are so many people today exactly like that king who are puzzled,
suffering and even crying. We are to have time with God, and then go to them.
Personally, for the church to be blessed, I, your pastor, need to be blessed.
For your family to be blessed, you need to be blessed. You are the one who
needs to be blessed first. Go to God for that blessing first[, and then use it
to do God's will in serving others].
Da.5:22-30[7104] A monkey-wretch in the works. Katsumasa Hirota: Looking back
to the early times of human history, God created us as human beings with our own
free will. There are so many things happening around us today that make us
wonder "How could these evil things be happening?" -- all of these things,
however, are the results of the choices we make using our free will. Sad to say,
but without knowing it, there is something that doesn't please God's reign over
us. For some reason, we will keep letting Satan rule parts of our lives. We
can't fully know our own true God, who holds our lives in His hands!
The king, Belshazzar, was a remarkable example of this. Knowing the real
and true God, who showed His mightiness to his father, he still continued to
ignore Him. He had no awe of Him! He placed himself, in his mind, as the one
who was in authority over everything, even beyond God's authority. [And, in
this passage, we can see the result of this attitude].
We can see, in the history of Japan, the same sin; in World War I, Japan
became so arrogant that it proclaimed to other nations "We, Japanese, are not
even afraid of God!" All of the other nations did not respect our words, but
felt sorry for this silly nation. Japan maintained this same attitude toward God
till His judgement was pronounced against it. It had been thinking that it was
the strongest nation in the world until the nuclear bomb fell on Hiroshima, and
then, Nagasaki. Read Ga.6:7-9; and Ro.1:18-25. Though there exists a God, who
created everything, people refuse to admit Him into their lives [and world-view.
Though we may refuse to admit it, we need Him]. But, God cannot be deceived.
Zechariah
Zec.4:6[8055] Our limited strength. Katsumasa Hirota: Even Christians try to
do things with human strength. Our physical strength is limited, but we tend to
keep doing a hard job in our own strength, and the result is that we feel so
tired and worn out afterwards. However, all we need is the strength of the
Spirit. Zechariah reported, '..by the strength of the Spirit.' This is the day
of Pentecost! Let us ask for the Spirit to fill us, so that we can live with Him
throughout our lives.
Zec.4:6-7[9093] God's power. Katsumasa Hirota: This is the scripture I was
given 16 years ago, when we had nothing to depend upon, after we had decided to
build our church (we had no money)! Only with this scripture did we start
building the Church of God. Through this we learned and experienced, not with
our physical strength but with God's power, that we could even do such a
difficult thing.
Zec.12:2,3[0064] Eiko Stevens: The time of fulfillment is when the Gospel has
reached out to every nation. This is the time when Israel will finish being
stubborn and their own salvation will be fulfilled.
Now let's turn to Zechariah. Here we see that more time is needed for the
prophecy to be fulfilled. We mistakenly think that the Gulf War was between Iraq
and America. But the truth is that the United Nations sent the soldiers. To
Kosovo, Nato was sent by the United Nations. -- So this organization is not what
is needed for the fulfillment of the prophecy.
Zec.13:8,9[0064] Eiko Stevens: If the leaders of the Law earnestly shout for
the coming of Christ, the people will follow them and their collective voice
will reach to Heaven.
Zec.14:2-5[0064] Eiko Stevens: This is the exact scene of the very last day
when Jesus actually comes back. With repentance and tears Israel, and in
particular the leaders of the Law, will call and Jesus will return.
New Testament References Next
